The newly capped Wales international who has been left out of the Rugby World Cup squad came off the bench against Connacht last weekend but will start for the Dragons this Friday night at Rodney Parade

Newport Gwent Dragons centre Tyler Morgan has been named in the starting line up to take on Zebre at Rodney Parade on Friday night (7.05pm).

The newly capped Wales international who has been left out of the Rugby World Cup squad came off the bench against Connacht last weekend but will start for the Dragons this Friday night at Rodney Parade.

Dragons back coach Shaun Connor said: “He has been excellent since he has come back and seems to have matured over the summer from training with better players and picking things up off them in the Welsh squad.”

Morgan, who turns 20 tomorrow, is one of four personnel changes and one positional adjustment to the team.

Versatile back Tom Prydie is moved from wing to fullback for this match. He is joined in the back three by wingers Ashton Hewitt and Nick Scott.

The centre pairing takes on a new shape as Morgan joins newcomer Adam Warren, who retains his place from last week. Fly-half Jason Tovey keeps his number 10 jersey with Sarel Pretorius joining him as scrum-half.

The front row has one change made to it as prop Boris Stankovich is joined by Brok Harris; skipper Thomas Rhys Thomas retains his place as hooker.

The second row partnership remains unchanged as Rynard Landman and Cory Hill get the nod. The back row has one change to it as flanker Lewis Evans joins Nic Cudd and No8 Ed Jackson.

The replacements bench has two changes as Shaun Knight and Carl Meyer join Hugh Gustafson, Phil Price, James Thomas, James Benjamin, Charlie Davies and Dorian Jones.

Connor added: “Zebre didn’t perform very well but we know that there will be a reaction from them on Friday.

“They are a proud bunch and will be up for it so it’s up to us to be more accurate and clinical than we were in Connacht. Zebre will be hurting from the result against the Blues so we need a strong opening 20 minutes.

“They are not going to roll over for us so we must focus on things that we can control; when we get in good positions we need to come away with points.”